Republicans swept into power promising to undo the economic damage done by the anti-business, growing-government policies of the Democrats. The Republicans did not sweep Colorado, perhaps because the Colorado voters were not fooled!

Colorado Republicans are clearly showing that improving the economy of their state is not their overriding goal. They are convening a summit that will likely result in the recommendation of a bill to enforce strict immigration laws, such as the one passed in Arizona earlier this year. Thankfully, it has little chance of passing, but the Republicans in Colorado (and elsewhere) are in favor of enacting such laws, which are immoral and violate individual rights.

These laws make American businesses less competitive by violating an employer’s rights to hire who they please. These laws also place additional burden on our law enforcement and court systems which are charged with the task of processing and housing nonviolent, illegal immigrants. Those immigrants could be contributing to economic growth rather than contributing to the growth of government.

If the Republicans truly wanted to jumpstart the economy, they might start by removing counterproductive efforts to control labor such as immigration quotas, the minimum wage and laws giving special favors to unions, rather than cater to a xenophobic obsession with deporting as many illegal immigrants as possible.